National Semiconductor Corporation

Peter Henry Renteln

John M Pierce

A method and apparatus for determining the amount of conditioning required to be applied to a polishing pad to achieve a desired removal rate during the polishing of a semiconductor wafer utilizes a rotating conditioning wheel in contact with a rotating polishing pad. Preselected points on just polished wafers are measured for removal rate and such measurements are used to calculate the removal rate as a function of wafer radius. When the removal rate changes by a preselected amount, the polishing pad is conditioned in accordance with the calculations.

Methods and apparatus for control of polishing pad conditioning for

A polishing pad and a method for polishing semiconductor wafers. The polishing pad includes a polishing layer and a rigid layer. The rigid layer adjacent the polishing layer imparts a controlled rigidity to the polishing layer. The resilient layer adjacent the rigid layer provides substantially uniform pressure to the rigid layer. During operation, the rigid layer and the resilient layer apply an elastic flexure pressure to the polishing layer to induce a controlled flex in the polishing layer to conform to the global topography of the wafer surface while maintaining a controlled rigidity over the local topography of the wafer surface.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

Peter Henry Renteln